Justin Tuck and Giants get defensive to beat Redskins

Inside the beltway, the blame will certainly fall on Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, because that’s just how it works.

But the Giants coming back for a 24-17 win over the Redskins had much more to do with defensive end Justin Tuck showing up for the Giants.

In the first half, Griffin sat comfortably in the pocket, throwing short passes safely.

But when Tuck began his siege on Griffin in the second half, collecting 4.0 sacks, all that changed.

As things began to get hurried, Griffin looked less and less sharp. And as he frayed, so did the Redskins’ chances.

The 5-7 Giants haven’t been consistently anything this season, and Tuck is on that list. He had 2.5 sacks entering the game.

That kind of now-you-see-it performance is why so many were willing to believe New York’s four-game winning streak was a sign of something greater.

They have individual talent scattered across the roster, but too much of it sat dormant for too much of the year, which explains how such a group could lose six in a row.

Here are five more things we learned during Sunday Night Football:

1. No one’s happier about the Redskins season than Rams coach Jeff Fisher.

Because with every loss, that pick they’re getting from the Redskins in exchange for Griffin gets better and better.

With the Redskins sitting at 3-9, only the Texans have a worse record. That leaves four weeks for them to jockey with the Falcons and Jaguars and Buccaneers and Vikings for a top-five pick they won’t even get to enjoy.

That’s money for nothing for Fisher and Rams General Manager Les Snead, who collected their bounty two years ago.

2. Not many players have had worse contract years than Giants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks.

After staying away from much of the offseason work in hopes of a deal that never came, he missed his first game last week. He still hasn’t played 16 games in a season, and he hasn’t been productive this year.

He had caught 42 passes for 620 yards (and no touchdowns) entering Sunday, and added two receptions for 34 yards. He’s fairly well off the radar at this point, with Rueben Randle transitioning into his old role already.

3. It’s not the first thing you think of in terms of the Redskins salary cap penalties, but the biggest impact might have been on their special teams.

That’s where depth and experienced backups can make a big difference, and the Redskins don’t have enough of them.

So as tempting as it might be to make special teams coach Keith Burns a scapegoat, it’s hard to blame him alone for all the problems. He probably didn’t instruct the injury replacement long snapper to dribble one to Sav Rocca.

Although, if they need a replacement kicker, Pierre Garcon might be able to help.

4. The Giants have plenty of problems that won’t be solved until the offseason, but they may have accidentally found an answer to one.

By taking Jon Beason’s contract off the hands of the Panthers for a seventh-round pick, the Giants have found a productive linebacker with a knack for the kind of leadership they need.

After a round of injuries with the Panthers (which kicked in right after a lucrative contract extension) and the drafting of Luke Kuechly, Beason was a man without a home. The Panthers tried him outside, but his ability and his instincts are those of a middle linebacker.

Beason’s not the same player he once was, lacking the same sideline-to-sideline burst he once had. But if allowed to play in an alley, something the Giants can offer but the Panthers couldn’t, he can still be more than a serviceable replacement.

His contract was restructured to void after the season, but with some former Miami teammates in place and something to prove, it probably wouldn’t be hard to convince Beason to hang around.

5. The Giants have plowed through six starting running backs this year, but their inability to establish an identity has more to do with the absences up front.

They’ve struggled to keep a healthy five in front of Manning all year, with Chris Snee and David Baas on IR, and then even promising replacement Jim Cordle joined them.

“randomguy9999 says:
Dec 1, 2013 11:25 PM
RG3…. the Skins are exactly as good as your record states, you fell to 3-9, -89 net points, lost 4 in a row

and tonight you gave up 5 sacks and a fumble and got eliminated from the playoffs”

ummm he didn’t fumble. and his receivers dropped like 6 passes. don’t see how that’s his fault. also he gets sacked because the redskins offensive line can’t pass block. i really don’t think you watched this game. rg3 didn’t play all that well, but you can’t seriously think that this loss was all on him.

That’s what you get with part-time, amateur referees. A billion dollar plus industry that won’t hire full time officials, this is the embarrassing travesty you get. Ridiculous.

kev86 says:Dec 1, 2013 11:30 PM

Big Blue hit harder and played better. In Eli I Trust.

nebster21 says:Dec 1, 2013 11:30 PM

Random guy you act like the Giants are going to the playoffs based off of that game. Your team won based on a blown call by a ref. Congrats your life is happy based off of someones mistake. Sort of like you life. You mom should have swallowed instead of being selfish.

harrisonhits2 says:Dec 1, 2013 11:32 PM

That deep scarlet shade on Shanarats face after the ref screw up at the end was priceless.

Can’t wait to hear the crying over that.

seatownballers says:Dec 1, 2013 11:32 PM

Wow. I haven’t seen that many dropped passes since I posted hot potato in grammar school. Hey logical, tell your right tackle his job is to block. This skins team is garbage. Receivers can’t catch, defense can’t stop anyone, rg3-9 blames everyone but himself, oline doesn’t block, and the play calling is horrible. Truth is skins fans can blame the refs, the league, or karma, but they are terrified. Terrified the skins will be worse next year.

chawk12thman says:Dec 1, 2013 11:33 PM

Illogical will likely come on to tell us how they plan to still make it to the playoffs….

wish i could see logicalvoicesays’ face at the end of that one! Then again when they eventually change the skins name hahaha
U know its coming!
P.s. I have sent many letters to the nfl voicing my opinion about the skins name just because logicalvoicesays is annoying haha

Listening to Al Michaels and Chris Colinsworth berate the officials at the end of the game was hilarious. Lost in their rant was the fact that Fred Davis dropped a 20 yard pass that would have resulted in a first down, not to mention Garçon juggling another easy catch that gets ripped from his hands, also a first down had it been handled. The Redskins are bad, blaming the officials for how the Redskins called their final two plays is ludicrous. Catch the ball, make a play and it does not matter. If you cannot overcome your own laughable mistakes, you will not overcome a bad call or two either. The Redskins suck, plain and simple.

If I’m the Redskins, I fire the OC tomorrow. Terrible final possession calling. Collinsworth called it correctly.

I also release Garcon. Getting stripped ofvthat ball was unforgiveable.

roadtrip3500 says:Dec 1, 2013 11:40 PM

Nice win by the Giants, but the Skins got screwed by the officials, no question. Triplett signaled third down without measuring, and the official on the side waved the chain forward for a 1st down. Shanahan had every reason to be angry because that definitely affected play calling.

These guys didn’t learn from that Seattle game, huh? Shucking and jiving around on the sideline (when the Giants defense is a lot better than some people realize) as if the game was over.

Then get COMPLETELY shut out after that, other than being held to a FG on a short field after an INT in the red zone. I’m more proud of the defense having to fight out of a hole for the 12th straight game, not our still-shaky offense.

And before Skins fans even TRY IT, when Beason blew up Bob and stopped him short on 4th and 1 and you went and got a touchdown, you weren’t complaining about down, distance and sticks.

granadafan says:Dec 1, 2013 11:42 PM

Dan Syder, the ultimate cheapskate, STILL had a horrible field for the whole country to see. RG3 is damned lucky he didn’t tear up his knee again on that turf. To Skin fans, don’t blame the league for your cheating and losing ways. Blame Shanny for bad play calling and preparation, RG3 for rushing back before he was ready, Snyder for that horrible turf, and your horrible fans.

NotoriousKDV says:Dec 1, 2013 11:43 PM

RGIII played well, he just had no help in the second half. Morris was shut down, the pass protection was terrible in the second half and there were way too many drops including the drop by Davis on that last drive and what was essentially a drop by Garcon on that last play where he got stripped.

You saw in the first half, when RGIII had good protection, he was able to go through his progressions and make the right reads and make good throws. Imagine if he had that type of protection all game long or all season long for that matter. Now I’m not saying that RGIII had a perfect game by any means, just that he did his part. It’s the rest of the team that let him down tonight.

fuqtard says:Dec 1, 2013 11:45 PM

Did you watch this game? Griff was sharp throughout, but plagued by drops. There was also this minor detail that happened at the end you seem to have left out…

The refs screwed the Redskins because they are God’s team! GODdell hates the skins because we’re gonna stack rings for the next decade! 2014 will be our year because we’re getting screwed on a weekly basis this year!

Can’t blame the loss on the refs, but the officiating is getting horrendous! The end of the game down fiasco is something the NFL should be embarrassed about, but just like big government, they’ll ignore the problems and tell you everything is great. Shanahan doesn’t have the yellow line on the field to reference, so when he sees the down marker switch to ‘1’, and the chains move he thinks first down. WRONG! It’s a secret 3rd down that only Triplett knew about. After Skins threw a first down pass, it’s 4th down again. REE-DICK-YOU-LESS! That’s high school officiating! Refs are ruining the product being put on the field.

I can’t remember worse officiating. We got a 1st down marker when it’s really 3rd down, how many unsportsmanlike penalties from the officials? Oh yeah! The crackhead official got suspended! Now it’s time to get our pound of flesh!!!

I’ve been resigned since week 3 my Skins were out. But this years officiating in all games I’ve watched have left much to be desired…

If you think about it, the Giants spotted the Skins 14 points and the Giants have been playing terrible for almost a whole half. So the Skins should of destroyed the Giants because the Giants were giving the Skins the game. If the Skins just did what they were suppose to do, they wouldn’t of been in that situation at the end of the game.

I don’t understand how the redskins can’t make the necessary adjustments to finish a game. Time and time again this season.
Snyder has to be pulling his hair out.
No defensive adjustments, play calling continues to be questionable.
The offensive line looks like they have quit.
This season is a joke! Time to clean house.
They have to rebuild, isn’t that what shanahan was brought in to do?

With the Redskins sitting at 3-9, only the Texans have a worse record. That leaves four weeks for them to jockey with the Falcons and Jaguars and Buccaneers and Vikings for a top-five pick they won’t even get to enjoy.

———————————————————-
Washington is a mess. Next year may well be a repeat of this year.

arwiv says:Dec 2, 2013 4:54 AM

Jim Cordle, “promising”? Im nit-picking here, but the only reason he was on the team this year was because the Giants o-line was such a dumpster fire. Cordle is not an NFL quality lineman.

Cordle promises only to give a subpar performance whenever he’s in there. He couldn’t beat out David Baas, and then when Baas’ injury gave Cordle a chance to play, he didn’t contribute much. Last week, against Dallas, the Giants actually played better after he came out of the game. The Giants will be shopping for a serviceable center in the off season.

greymares says:Dec 2, 2013 8:14 AM

To give up 4 sacks to Justin Tuck is laughable, the Ratskins should be looking to trade Bobby Griffin for draft picks so they can pick up some linemen to protect Cousins next year.

I was glad to see the Giants beat up RG3-9 last night but the Giants still have a long ways to do this off-season.

As for RG3-9. How many QBs after throwing a touchdown pass do a little dance, drop to their knees and point to the sky. Redskins fans wonder why people dislike him. Everything he does is to draw attention to himself. He has a long ways to do to be a legit NFL QB. Instead of looking to run he needs to keep his head up and throw the ball down the field. So many times last night once he got out the pocket and created space he elected to pull the ball down and run instead of trying to look for WRs downfield. This is why Wilson, Kap and Luck are way ahead of him.

justintuckrule says:Dec 2, 2013 9:24 AM

At least skins fans can look forward to another nfce championship……..in 10 more years

bkg63 says:Dec 2, 2013 10:07 AM

Hail To The Redskins? or Redskins To Hail ???

kev86 says:Dec 2, 2013 10:22 AM

REDSKINS were ELIMINATED from the playoffs by the NEW YORK GIANTS. Big Blue!!

Giants fan here. I know that ‘Skins fans must be feeling real down about this season, but you are overreacting. RGIII looked terrific until receivers started dropping passes and whoever was playing right tackle turned into a turnstile for Tuck.

This second year setback is like what happened to Carolina last year. Your cap problems and lack of draft choices may make you suffer another year, but the team is on the rise. I would take RGIII over Eli in a heartbeat (factoring in age).

I’m beginning to think the Washington receivers are dropping passes intentionally. You can’t be in the NFL and be that bad. They had problems last year too, but I thought they would be used to RGIII by now. Replace them all with rookies.

Wow, I guess I never realized how much some people hate my team (Redskins). Yes, we suck. RGIII is a farce. Coaching is ridiculous. The owner is a cretin. Our receiving core looks like it came straight from a Pee-Wee league. Why do we need your hatred?

Not that it changed the outcome of the game but the officiating was a joke. No way should that 1-3 down thing ever have happened. Even the most hateful should be in agreement with that.

Either way, whether you think the officials greased the skids on that final drive, or the drive where Beason stopped Griffin short on 4th down, turnover on downs (and the Skins went down to score 6), Washington had done absolutely nothing since the middle of the first quarter. Giants shut them down. Reminiscent of the Seahawks’ masterful shutdown of that gimmick offense in the playoffs.

defscottyb says:Dec 3, 2013 1:50 AM

drs76109 says: Dec 1, 2013 11:39 PM

If I’m the Redskins, I fire the OC tomorrow. Terrible final possession calling. Collinsworth called it correctly.

I also release Garcon. Getting stripped ofvthat ball was unforgiveable.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Fire the OC? The play calling was fine. If Fred Davis makes that catch we have a chance to tie it. Drops all night by Garcon and Paulsen. That is not RG3 or Kyle’s fault. Catch the ball!